News
British Columbia

The woman who heads the provincial coalition of school trustees thinks it’s simply “not realistic” to immediately change teachers’ contract provisions back to the way things were in 2002.

The B.C. Supreme Court ruled last month that the provincial government had bargained in bad faith and class sizes, composition and support staff numbers should go back to the way they were a dozen years ago.

School trustees and their top school district staff have now been meeting via teleconferences across the province to discuss the decision’s potential impacts.

Teresa Rezansoff, chairwoman of the Boundary School Board and president of the B.C. School Trustees Association, said on Wednesday some teachers have already been clamouring for immediate local changes as Victoria appeals the court decision.

“Some local unions are coming to their boards of education and making those demands,” she said.

“We’re not interested in going down that road.”

Rezansoff said it’s still uncertain whether any quick changes would go ahead, as government is applying for a stay of the court ruling during its appeal and a decision has not been made.

She said school boards are trying to figure out how much changes might cost, but expect any money to come from the province, as individual boards would find it difficult to provide more funding.